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Woman Evelyn Cobbold is believed to have been the primary British lady to make the pilgrimage to Mecca, with the noblewoman endeavor the Hajj in 1933 aged 65, later documenting her travels in a ebook.
Now, the journey to her last resting place on her former property in Glencarron lately turned a religious endeavor for a bunch of Muslim converts, many who travelled from England to make the six-hour return journey on foot in basic Highland wind and rain. A name to prayer was made on the hillside, and prayers stated near Woman Evelyn’s grave.
The pilgrimage was organised by Btool Al-Toma, of Leicester, founder Director of the Convert Muslim Basis.
Amongst those that took half was journalist Yvonne Ridley, who was captured and imprisoned by the Taliban in Afghanistan in 2001 and who later transformed to Islam.
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Ms Ridley, who lives within the Scottish Borders, stated: “Since I learn her ebook, I’ve been completely fascinated by her and I needed to make the journey, say my salaams and acknowledge her. She is a exceptional lady.
“The grave is the place two mountains seem to fulfill and what was notably poignant was once I seemed up and there was a stag standing just some yards from her grave. The journey was very powerful for all of us however it was additionally symbolic of the religious journal numerous us have made. It hasn’t been simple and there have been challenges.”
Woman Evelyn, who later took the title Zainab, was born in Edinburgh in 1867 and spent lengthy intervals of her childhood North Africa, the place her father, Charles Adolphus Murray, seventh Earl of Dunmore – a Lord in Ready in Disraeli’s authorities and Lord Lieutenant of Stirlingshire – took his household for winters.
Immersed in Arabic life and custom from a younger age, she later wrote of dwelling in a Moorish villa outdoors Algiers and the enjoyment of escaping her governess on journeys to mosques with pals.
“Unconsciously, I used to be a bit Moslem at coronary heart,” she later wrote.
The primary time she recognized as a Muslim was throughout a gathering with the Pope, no much less, whereas on vacation to Italy. She documented the encounter with the Pontiff in her ebook, Pilgrimage to Mecca, printed in 1934.
“When His Holiness all of the sudden addressed me, asking if I used to be a Catholic, I used to be stunned for a second after which replied that I used to be a Muslim. A match was lit and I then and there decided to learn up and research the religion.
“The extra I learn and the extra I studied, the extra satisfied I turned that Islam was essentially the most sensible faith. Since then I’ve by no means wavered in my perception that there’s however one god.”
Woman Evelyn separated from her husband, with whom she had three kids, in 1922, and obtained land at Glencarron, the place her deerstalking expertise have been extensively admired. Following the demise of her husband in 1929, she made the journey to Mecca after being granted permission by King Abdul Aziz of Saudi Arabia.
When Woman Evelyn died in 1963, a piper, apparently frozen stiff within the January climate, performed MacCrimmon’s lament whereas the “Gentle” Surah from the Qur’an was recited in Arabic. A verse from the identical Surah is etched on her grave.
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